Distress in Iraq

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, October 26, 2004

WITH THE execution of 49 newly trained and unarmed Iraqi National Guard recruits by insurgents and the discovery of a huge cache of explosives missing from a former military outpost, the latest news out of Iraq is both heartbreaking and outrageous.

The dispatches seem to grow grimmer every day. The recruits were to begin a 20-day leave when they were stopped at a checkpoint by insurgents dressed as Iraqi police, according to news reports. Then they were lined up in rows and shot, most with their hands tied behind their backs.

The New York Times reported that the country's interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful explosives have vanished from a compound that was supposed to be secured by American military forces.

It also appears that Justice Department may have violated Geneva Convention rules by drafting a memo authorizing the CIA to transfer detainees out of Iraq for interrogation. Officials say that as many as a dozen detainees have been secretly transported in the past six months.

Tough talk on Iraq has been the hallmark of this presidential campaign, but the weekend's news reveals the harsh reality of chaos, uncertainty and inhumanity gripping Iraq in the aftermath of this ill-advised war.